The Crow: Book of Days
by medboflight
Summary: Draven meets a young girl at the club with a past she wants to hide and a future of unclarity. What is the connection he finds so deep?
1. One

There aren't many days, or even hours that I don't think about Shelly. She was the first person I ever really loved. She was my breath of life and my connection to reality. 

When I came back, all I could think about was that I had to set things right. No matter the cost. Even though I did, we are still apart. 

I had to make a new life alone. Gotta pay the rent and have money to replace bullet hole ridden clothing. I got a job in a club where I sometimes played jigs with the old band. It wasn't that good of money, but I enjoyed it anyway. Got to watch a new band almost every night and hang out with some amazing people. 

It was at this job that I met Macha.

It was a Friday night, and people where just starting to show up in masses. There was a group playing called Black Rose and they where suppose to be amazing. 

Around 9:30 or so, the band started setting up the equipment and warming their strings. A few later, an image or mortal youth at its grandest stepped up to the center mic. She was in her late teens or early twenties. I couldn't tell. She was dressed all in black, with a long duster on and her long blonde hair flowing down to her waist.

She didn't make a sound until the music started and then her silky voice waved across the sound system.

I don't think Jon Bon Jovi himself could have sung his own song as well. It seemed like every part of Blaze of Glory had a deeper connection to her. Maybe it did. Whatever it was, you could see the passion in her eyes.

After a few more numbers, they took an intermission. For some reason, I had to talk to her. 

" Hi," I said.

" Hey. You, uh, work here right?' she said.

"Yeah. Eric Draven ." 

"I'm Macha. That's all you need to know for now." Macha said.

" You where amazing up there." I told her

"It wasn't that good," Macha said with a snicker, " Oh, man. I gotta go. Can I talk to you later Eric?"

" Sure, I'll be here," I said. 

She climbed up on stage with a slight smile on her face. She bit her bottom lip and locked her eyes with mine just before she stepped up to the mic again. After whispering with the band she turned and starts into song.

" My dreams are not yet broken. My heart is not yet tamed. The wild rain keeps pouring, but you stay the same. Darkness all around you. You tell me, do not fear. I begging down here on my knees to take my hand and 

Fly away with me. Come with me away from the heartache and pain we feel today. These broken wings we have can no longer take backlashes and all the scars that come from this running and fleeing, the begging and pleading for a chance to see that light.

Look at my hands. Can you see the things they've had to do? Can you feel the pain in my soul, bursting out without control? Just yesterday, things where going our way. Just laughing and playing. Oh what am I saying? I'll never see those days again.

Fly away with me. Come with me away from the heartache and pain we feel today. These broken wings we have can no longer take backlashes and all the scars that come from this running and fleeing, the begging and pleading for a chance to see that light.

These black feather falling down from my soul just like blood from open wounds. My spirit needs to be free. Could you be that salvation I'm yearning? The one I should be turning to?

Fly away with me. Come with me away from the heartache and pain we feel today. These broken wings we have can no longer take backlashes and all the scars that come from this running and fleeing, the begging and pleading for a chance to see that light. A chance to see that light. Fly. Bird. Fly."

I couldn't believe it. It was like she could see the inner me. It was somewhat frightening. 

'No. She couldn't possibly know.' I thought. If she would have started singing the Beatles song "Blackbird", I would have really freaked out. But, instead, she started another original. I'm not sure what the word where, or even the tempo, all I could do was wonder if she knew my whole story. 

After around three songs later, they called it quits. She came up to me and smiled.

" So, what did you think about the rest of the show?" Macha asked

" Absolutely loved it." I said.

" I would buy you a drink, but it wouldn't exactly be legal" She said

" What?" I said, a little in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm only seventeen." Macha answered.

" I would have never guessed that," I said. It was a half-truth, yeah, but I was still a little dazed by the fact.

" So, what time does your shift end?" She asked me cocking her left eyebrow.

" When's a good time for you?" I asked

" Right now," She said as she wrinkled her nose.

" Okay. Hey, India, I'm gonna clock out now. I have some things to do ." I yelled over the music to India Reyes, who was upstairs.

We walked out into the warm air of late July. We turned down the alley and ended up on the near by sidewalk.

" So, um, how long have you been here?" I asked her.

" Just rolled in a few days ago. Don't know how long I'm staying and don't plan on going back to where I came from" She said rather bluntly.

" Why not? I mean, you're just a kid," I said, but then I wished that I hadn't.

" Don't call me that. I may be younger than you, but I know a thing or two more about getting along in life." She said with fire in her eye and almost every muscle tensing in her body. 

" I didn't mean anything by it," I said raising my hands in defense, " all I'm saying is that you're so young to have to deal with the real world."

" Who says that I didn't experience the real world a long time ago?" She said with some pain breaking through her eyes. 

Some time passed and I don't know how far we had walked. We talked about almost anything that we could grab out of the night sky.

" So, you got a boyfriend?" I asked

" Nope. Haven't really had one in over a year. You have a girlfriend?" She asked

" I did. But, she died a while ago," I answered

" Oh, Eric. I hate to hear that. No one deservers to loose someone close to them like that. Especially someone like you," She said in a near whisper.

"Yeah," I said looking down.

We rounded the corner and I found that we had made our way back to my place. I wasn't tired, I never am, but she looked like she needed to sit down for a bit, so I invited her up. 


	2. Two

Once we where upstairs, we sat down near the window and started talking.

" So, what's your story?" I asked her.

" What do you mean?" She asked in return

" Why is someone like you out here alone?" I said

" I didn't have anything holding me back where I came from. My own parents said they loved me, but then call me things like devil child and little shit. They didn't seem to give a damn left or right about me. My whole family just gave me hollow promises and dirty looks. 

But I did have one close friend. His name was Jason. He loved me like I was his family. I loved him the same way. He wasn't from the " right side of the tracks", so my parents didn't approve of me hanging out with him. But I still did. I myself didn't have their approval.

He got into some trouble later on at work. He had heard some things that I guess he didn't need to. Something about some high and mightys that this group of local thugs where gonna take out and then rob. 

Jason, having the morals that he did, wasn't gonna just take that sitting down. He told me about it too, back at his place. I warned him to be careful about what he was going to do. 

Before we could even head out the door, they where at the threshold. We tried to fight them off, but there where too many of them. I was being held to the ground and struggling to get up when I heard a loud bang ring through the air. Then two more followed. 

All I could do was scream and leap to my feet before they shot me too, in the left side. The pain, and I guess blood loss soon caused me to fall to the floor and that's where I stayed for around four days. When, I finally got up to my feet, he was gone. I don't know what I went through, but the wound was almost completely healed on that fourth day. 

Since then, things have been as they usually where, except for that gapping hole in my life that Jason used to fill" Macha finished as if there was more to say but couldn't find the strength to do it. 

" So, you've been hungry and tired?" I asked

" Well, yeah," Macha answered, " Why? You think I'm some sort of zombie or something?"

" No. Not at all," I said. God, I hated lying to the girl. I knew she knew that I was lying.

" Something like that," She said. I saw that she was starting to cry. Her eyeliner and mascara was running and making lines on her face that seemed all to familiar. She looked completely defeated. I didn't really know what to do at first and then it came to me.

" Macha, is it okay if I ask to do something?" I said.

" Not at all. Long as its legal" She answered with a smirk.

" It is, I think. Just don't be afraid." I said, trying to be as calm as I could. I reached up my hands and I touched her head. The flashes began. 

I saw her at a young age, probably around twelve, she was hiding in her closet with tears leaving streaks on her face. Her green eyes where blood shot and swollen. Then, a short woman with wild hair came and grabbed her arm and pulled her up forcefully.

" Just suck it up! You don't want me to call your father home from work now do you?" the woman said, " Hello! I asked you a question! Do you? huh?'

" No.. ma'am" Macha said through sobs.

It then went to where Macha was about fourteen. She was sitting in a coffee shop it looked like. She was looking over her song book and deep in though. 

A group of misfit looking boys walked in and were clowning around. One with dark hair and a smart smirk on his face accidentally spilled his soda on her lap. 

" My God! Look what you did you little jerk!" Macha yelled.

" I'm sorry. Really I am." the boy said. He grabbed some napkins and was going to help her clean up the mess. 

" No really, I've got it." Macha said. 

" You sure? By the way, I'm Jason." he said.

" I'm Macha" 

The flashes then changed too Macha the way she looked now. She was in a run down looking apartment with what looked like an older version of Jason .

" I can't just sit back and do nothing" Jason said.

" Not now though Jason. You know better than anyone what these people will do to you if they find out you played a nark." Macha said.

" Please just let me go" Jason said

" Not without me" Macha said.

They headed for the door, but it was opened and about seven men swarmed in. 

" well, well, well. Looky ,looky what we have here." one of the men said.

" Macha. Run. Now. Go" Jason yelled.

" No. I'm not leaving you." Macha said. 

A man tried to grab her, but she kicked and hit him. Several others started in on both her and Jason. They put up a good fight, but they over powered them. Macha was thrown to the floor and her hands where pulled behind her back as she was being held down. 

She struggled to get up as Jason was thrown against the wall. A little afterwards two shots rang through the air. 

" No!" Macha screamed. She pushed up with her legs and rose to her feet. She ran toward Jason's lifeless body before another shot rang through the air. She fell to her knees and then back on to her back. 

A few minutes later, they where all gone. They had taken Jason and left her to die. I saw as a stream of blood ran down from her mouth and curled. Her lips where moving and she was singing.

" Black bird singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly. You've been waiting all your life for this moment to arise" Macha sang as tears once again streaked her face and then..... there was nothing. 


	3. Three

I jerked my hands away from her. For the first time in so long I actually thought that I felt pain, on the outside. Maybe I was channeling her pain from the past. 

She was rocking back and forth with her knees pulled up and her hands clenching her hair. She was in udder despair and I could feel it. Really feel it, like it was in the air. 

" Macha?" I said, " Macha?" I went over and placed my hand on her back.

" Don't touch me!" She screamed. She flung her arms in attempts to move mine away. Doing this she exposed her face and what I saw was what I have grown accustom to seeing in the mirror. There where differences though. The lines coming from her mouth ended in curls just below the ends of her eyes. And the lines under her eyes where like two lines from each corner coming together and filled in in between. The upper lines just extended off the peaks of her arched eyebrows.

" Did you know about this?" I asked her.

" About what?" She said. 

" Look," I said pointing towards the shattered mirror

She got up and walked over and gasped at what she saw.

" Eric what's going on?' She asked me. 

" I asked you once before if you trusted me and you said yes. Do you still mean that?" I asked.

She nodded

" I guess you died back then. You see, a few years ago, I died too. That window there, I was shot and then thrown from it. I died before Shelly did. But I came back a year later with the spirit of the crow as my guide. You see, the spirit guides us to the other side, what ever it may be. Sometimes, when we die, we carry a sadness with us. For you, it was the loss of Jason for me, Shelly."

"No. No. Eric, you're wrong. If I died, then why does it feel like I'm just the same?" She asked. 

" I don't know. But that's the only answer I got Macha" I said desperately. 

" Don't you know that there aren't always easy answers?" She pleaded

" Yes. But for now, your just gonna have to calm down. Okay?" I said taking hold of her shoulders to steady her, " We can't find all the answers here, but, for now, we're just going to have to make due."

I looked her in the eye and tried my best to be convincing. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. I knew then she had taken over being as that the mark of the curse had faded. 

She opened her eyes as mine were still locked on hers. She then quickly glanced away and then back. Then as she looked toward the floor, her hair fell in her face. I reached toward her and brushed it away and then rested my hand on her face. She took her hand a placed it on top of mine. I moved in closer to her. So close I could hear her breathing. She tilted her head slightly and moved closer as well. 

We were almost touching when I saw a white light out of the corner of my eye and thought I heard someone whisper my eye. 

" No." I whispered, " I can't do this. Not now." I jerked away from her and walked to the other side of the room.

" Just because part of you died, doesn't mean you can't still feel." Macha said. 

" But you're only a child. You have so much more to look for," I said.

" I've got nothing at all. No one has touched me in my whole life like you have in the last three hours. Jason was my strength to get me through until I could find you. We don't belong anywhere else right now than right here. Alone together." She said. 

" You just don't get it do you?!? She is still here. I can still feel her here watching me," I yelled loosing control to my darker side. My crow sensing this flew into the room. That distracted her long enough to where I could do a disappearing act of my own, leaving her alone. 

I couldn't take it anymore. How could I let myself get lost in a pretty face like that? How could I do that to Shelly? All of these thoughts were racing through my mind just one after another. 

I didn't run far. I soon found refuge on top of a near by abandoned building. I kept thinking about what I had seen. What was it that caused people that were supposed to love her to treat her like that? She didn't need one more person to feel bad for her, just one to stand beside her again


	4. Four

He had left me alone in a place that felt cold and empty. I was so pissed at him I couldn't even talk or anything. But I did know something I could do.

I ran downstairs and went out a side door. That's when I saw that dark power just sitting there begging me to pluck it. He was asking for it. He left the ignition unlocked. Any simple Joe could have stolen it. I almost felt bad about taking it for a moment. Only a moment, simply because it was so easy. 

I soon was roaring through the streets on that steel horse. I figured I shouldn't be out long. Just take it back to the club. I was sleeping above there. I don't like to say staying because it makes it sound like I want to stick around for a while. That's not me. I stay until I feel like my welcome is well worn and then go out seeking a new one. If I don't get too close, I won't get that hurt. 

I swung my leg over the side of it and kicked up the stand. Slowly I backed it up while I lit a cigarette and blew the smoke back over my head. When I finally got out into the street, I hit the sweet switch that set the v-block roaring.

" Hell yes. Macha, you deserve this bike," I said, not really giving a damn if anyone heard me. After taking the last drag and flicking the smoke away, I turned it straight and rode to the Hole. 

Once there, I parked it in the alley to the side of the club. India just happened to be taking out the trash when I pulled up.

" Hey, isn't that Draven's bike?" She asked me

" Maybe. What's it worth?" I asked

" Well, nothing to me, but he's going to be pissed at you" She said as she walked back inside.

That's what I was hoping for. I get him mad, and then maybe he'll come looking for me. 

It didn't take him long to come. I was up on the roof feeling the hot late summer air in my face. I would probably rain soon. I saw him walking into the door and heard him start up the stairs. I swung back into my room just as he turned the knob.

" Well, Eric Draven. What a pleasant surprise." I said with a smirk.

" I want my bike." He said, none to happy with me.

" It's yours to take. She rides like a dream, I have to tell you that." I said.

" Where did you learn to ride like that?" He inquired of me

" Well, I've been around. I see, I ask, I learn. Its as simple as that" I answered

He just looked at me and smiled. He was too cute. He cocked his head and looked liked he had gotten an idea in his head. 

"What?" I said.

" I think that maybe that I know of someone that can help find out what you are," he said, taking my hand.


End file.
